End of Summer Risotto

Do you love  Risotto?  Do you love  Summer?

Well friends, let me tell you…… if the answer was yes to either one of those questions, you WILL LOVE  this recipe!

For some reason, I have always loved veggies.  That’s not to say that I eat them all the time, or I’m a vegetarian  (I tried to be a couple of times and FAILED MISERABLY!………….BOTH ………TIMES!)

I just haven’t met a vegetable I didn’t like.  I have asked my mother what she did differently during her pregnancy with me, but she wouldn’t give me the secret, so alas, I have not been able to recreate this my own kiddos.

I have to say that while this wasn’t a hit with all 3 of the kids, it WAS with one and Mom and Dad.  (*So maybe I got the pregnancy secret down with one of the  kids and not the others, right?  LOL!)

For some who aren’t familiar with risotto, it is basically rice that you cook slowly and add liquid and other ingredients too that in the end, becomes a rich, creamy, thick rice dish.  In other words,  YUMMY!

I cannot claim this recipe for my own.  I got it from one of my go to Cookbooks, Cooking Light: Good Mood Food.

I always seem to tweak my recipes just a little, so it never ends up exactly like the original, but that’s ok with me.  😉

I really think you are going to love this!

Here you go!

Recipe:  End of Summer Risotto

• 6 cups of water

• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 3/4 in. pieces

• 1  3/4 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 1  1/2 cups chopped onion

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 cup uncooked Arborio Rice

• 1 cup Frozen Shelled Edamame

• 1/2 Kosher Salt

• 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

• 2 oz. (1/3 – less- fat cream cheese (about 1/4 cup)

• 1/2 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 oz. Shredded Parmesan (about 1/4 cup) * You can find this in the pre-shredded packaged cheese in your grocery store.

• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme or * Dried Thyme works just fine!  Just remember to reduce the amount.  Dried is stronger than fresh.

 

Directions:

– Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a saucepan.  Add asparagus, and cook 2 minutes. Drain.  Bring 2 cups water and chicken broth to a simmer in a saucepan.

– Heat a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add olive oil, and swirl to coat.  Add onions; cook 4 minutes.  Add garlic, and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in rice, edamame, and salt; cook 1 minute.  Stir in 1 cup broth mixture,; cook 4 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.  Add remaining broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until liquid is absorbed before adding more ( about 20 minutes total.)

– Stir in asparagus, cream cheese, and pepper; cook 1 minute.

– Spoon risotto into a large serving bowl, OR * 4 individual bowls if main dish.  Top the large bowl with 1/4 cup  of parmesan cheese or 1 Tbsp. of the parmesan if you are serving in individual bowls.

– Sprinkle with Thyme.

SERVES: 4 if serving as main dish, and much more if serving as side.

 

SIDE NOTE:

I loved this so much, I had it the next day with left overs!  For dinner the night before, we served it with Grilled Chicken.  So for left overs, I made it a single bowl full of yumminess!

 

I ended up with left over Risotto, Grilled Chicken, and added Wilted Kale over top.  I love pepper too so I got a little heavy handed on that end, but oh my word!

So So Good!  

Hope you enjoy!

XoXo,

Esther